high-tech solutions HIGH-TECH HELP


FOR NEWCOMERS Montreal refugees share their innovations By Erla Cabrera


“It was difficult being in a new place when you have no friends and don’t speak


the language,” High Commissioner explained


asylum seeker Ahmed Saeed to Filippo Grandi,


the United Nations for Refugees.


“I felt very isolated and didn’t know where to go when I needed help.”


Saeed, 23, proudly showed Grandi an app that he helped develop with two friends from university at a visit from the High Commissioner at the Refugee Centre in Montreal last November.


Named “Compass,” the app guides all newcomers—from resettled refugees to economic immigrants—by giving


answers to a number of frequently asked questions: Where can I rent the lowest-priced apartments? How do I make a doctor’s appointment? Which local services can I access?


Using Compass to navigate through a new society


Saaed arrived in Canada from Eritrea in 2015, and used his own experience as a refugee to ensure Compass would be useful. “I wanted to do something so that other refugees won’t have to experience what I went through.”


With a focus on students and their families,


the Refugee Centre is


an all-in-one tech incubator and newcomer


services not-for-profit


agency, helping people to integrate into Canadian life.


One start-up is developing LUNA AI, a cutting-edge interactive platform that walks asylum seekers through the refugee claims process with Canadian authorities. LUNA operates like a chat bot that converses with asylum seekers. Through a series of back-and-forth questions,


the app


extracts the information required to automatically


complete an asylum


application. Instead of filling out pages of forms in a foreign language, the app allows newcomers to save time and effort.


Solutions start with the people we try to help


“It is very exciting to see how your challenging beginnings have led you to create innovative ways to support your own and others’


integration,”


Grandi told Saeed and his friends at the centre.


“Such apps will make the life of people who often lost everything so much easier. It reminds us that more often than not, solutions start with the very people we try to help.”


For Saeed, working with the Compass team allowed him not only to help others, but also to develop his own skills and professional connections.


© UNHCR/Michelle Siu DevBloc Executive Director Abdulla Daoud (centre) is joined by


members of the LUNA AI team to present an app that helps users to complete refugee claim forms to enter Canada. They demonstrated the app during a visit from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi at The Montreal Refugee Centre.


UNHCR.CA @UNHCRCANADA


“The Refugee Centre gave sound to my voice by introducing me to the IT world and using my story as the instrumental data they needed to bring the app to life. This is what I want to offer to others: a chance to use their story to build bridges and steer their own course.” «


UNHCR CANADA UNHCR CANADA / 21


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